I don't understand why anybody cares about the 4 lefties situation. 3 of them have an era under 4. I don't care if our starters pitch with their feet, if they keep their era under 4, they are welcome to stay.

Are you not aware that in a "firesale" the seller receives less than the maximum value? Instead of a fire sale, why not wish for no more than one or two trades for maximal value?

Why not wish for maximum return for every veteran dealt?

__________________The universe is the practical joke of the General at the expense of the Particular, quoth Frater Perdurabo, and laughed. The disciples nearest him wept, seeing the Universal Sorrow. Others laughed, seeing the Universal Joke. Others wept. Others laughed. Others wept because they couldn't see the Joke, and others laughed lest they should be thought not to see the Joke. But though FRATER laughed openly, he wept secretly; and really he neither laughed nor wept. Nor did he mean what he said.

I don't understand why anybody cares about the 4 lefties situation. 3 of them have an era under 4. I don't care if our starters pitch with their feet, if they keep their era under 4, they are welcome to stay.

Agree, if a pitcher is able to get batters out that should be the only thing that matters,.

1. Thornton- he is healthy.
2. Lindstrom- take longer because he is worth haggling over.
3. Rios- another guy who should fetch something.
4. Keppinger- please.
5. Alexei- its time.
6. Crain- when he is off the dL.
7. Peavy- see above.
8. Dunn....desperate times calls for desperate moves by a contender.

Nobody is going to take Dunn, at least not until this time next year when his remaining salary wouldn't be hard to swallow.

Replace him with Viciedo. Someone else can pay top dollar for power potential, a good arm in LF and little else, and give us a quality prospect in or two in return.

Are you not aware that in a "firesale" the seller receives less than the maximum value? Instead of a fire sale, why not wish for no more than one or two trades for maximal value?

Many sports journalists lack the language skills that other communications job demand (note how teams down 2-0 or 3-0 in a best of 5 or 7 series can be "literally looking down the barrel of a loaded gun" when the consequences of losing rarely involves ballistics). The term "fire sale" was coined by sports journalists to apply to teams dumping veterans for prospects to improve their team and repeated by sports journalists who didn't take time to understand what the term meant. It gets repeated often enough and picked up by fans who don't take the time to understand what words actually mean (i.e., a UFO is an unidentified flying object, mostly likely not an extraterrestrial space craft). The same thing happened with the old abbreviation for no-hit-no run games to the point where people commonly refer to non-shutout no-hitters as no-nos, thinking that it's a cute and informal abbreviation.

If it were a true fire sale, a retail term applying to huge discounts on smoke-damaged merchandise and merchandise that must be moved immediately for lack of storage space, fans would not welcome it. They want to see other teams overpay for the flawed players and they don't want the players that could still help the team dumped for lesser talent.

If the White Sox are trying to improve their team, they wouldn't trade any starting pitching. They wouldn't trade anyone performing at a high level, vastly over-performing a salary with the team controlling them for at least a couple more years. That is, you don't want to see Sale traded for someone who possibly could be Sale in 1-3 years in return. Sale is not a drain on the team payroll. He is not headed into free agency. And if you get a future Sale in return, He is probably going to get injured anyway, or at least that's what some say. I don't see Peavy bringing much anyway considering his continued injury issues.

You shouldn't want to trade any of your young relievers who appear to have potential unless they are part of a package. For contending teams trying dealing prospects to improve in the here and now, young relief pitchers tend to have little trade value, especially at deadline. Reed has had as many problems this year as closers for contenders that some commentators believe are in need of a closer upgrade. Giving up 5 runs while protecting a 5-run extra-inning lead as the last reliever in the bullpen looms large in his legend. If you're going by his stuff and potential, Jones has better stuff, although this season has brought Jones's potential in question. Reed isn't a salary dump, he isn't bound for free agency and he isn't going to bring back much in return.

The one intriguing exception to the above might be Santiago, although I don't know what he might bring in return.

Thornton and Crain seem likely to be traded. Dunn is a real possibility because he is hitting at a higher level than he has since coming to the White Sox, and he has been playing in the field, although not terribly well. He could even be dumped on waivers the way the White Sox dumped Rios. Rios might demand more, but Rios has contract issues similar to Dunn, and he is performing at a higher level. I wouldn't want to see Dunn or Rios traded if the White Sox were picking up either salary.

The same applies for Keppinger, a free-agent signing that seemed strong in the off-season. The White Sox offered Keppinger more than other teams did in the off-season. His value has not increased. Maybe the Giants, who are in need of offense while facing injury issues, might want him back. They traded for Keppinger at the trade deadline a couple of years ago for a minor league relief pitcher who doesn't appear to have been called up by the Astros yet.

There could be more trades. There could be a lot of trades. But it could turn out to be trades that more closely match the fire-sale metaphor, leaving fans more angry and alienated that the play of the White Sox in the first half of the season.

The same applies for Keppinger, a free-agent signing that seemed strong in the off-season. The White Sox offered Keppinger more than other teams did in the off-season. His value has not increased. Maybe the Giants, who are in need of offense while facing injury issues, might want him back.

You're thinking of Gillaspie, Keppinger came from the Rays.

__________________"Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be."